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Fire Regime - Report

Fire regimes of shortleaf pine communities

Written
March, 2026
Fire Regime Type
Report

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of shortleaf pine communities. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/fire-regimes/shortleaf-pine

A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for shortleaf pine communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, LANDFIRE succession modeling of shortleaf pine Biophysical Settings (BpS) provides estimates of fire regime characteristics (see LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings section). Figure 1 shows where these BpSs occur.

A map showing the distribution of shortleaf pine communities in the south central U.S.
Photo Credit
Map based on the LANDFIRE (2020) BpS data layer [1].

Figure 1—Land cover distribution of shortleaf pine Biophysical Settings (BpS).

2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings — Historical Fire Regime Characteristics
Biophysical SettingMean Fire Interval (years)Fire Severity Percent (%)
CodeFire Regime GroupLowMixedReplacementAllLowMixedReplacement
Series 13710 - West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest
13710_32_36_37_45_98I-A56412148974
13710_44I-A55212148794
Series 13670 - Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland
13670_32_44I-A59234759451
Series 15070 - Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland
15070_44I-A2122310029712
Series 15100 - Northern Crowley`s Ridge Sand Forest
15100_45I-A648613559514
Summary
Minimum25210028711
Maximum6122334759794
Mean538316549253
Median59212149454
Percentage of fires in 3 fire severity classes, derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling. Replacement-severity fires cause >75% kill or top-kill of the upper canopy layer; mixed-severity fires cause 26%-75%; low-severity fires cause <26%.
LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: https://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [96496]

1. LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings layer, CONUS (LANDFIRE 2.2.0). In: LANDFIRE download data mosaic products, [Online]. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; U.S. Department of Agriculture (Producer). Available: https://www.landfire.gov/version_download.php [2023, June 20]. [98050]

2. LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: http://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [2022, February 2]. [96496]

Last updated April 28, 2026